By Evan Milberg
At the 2014 National Harbor Food and Wine Festival, Doukenie Winery winemaker Sébastien Marquet said that within the next two months, Northern Virginia will get its first “wine lab” in Middleburg. The wine lab will, among many things, help winemakers analyze the consistency of their wines and to ensure their best possible product hits the market. Marquet stressed the importance of having such a place within proximity to the nation’s capital, as the closest wine lab for Virginia winemakers is at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
This follows January news when Governor Terry McAuliffe announced a $17,500 grant to Loudoun County for a Viticulture and Enology Education Center to “serve the next generation of winemakers.”